Can man battles biz over bottles

This guy could soon be going from skid row to the penthouse.

A New York garbage scavenger is suing a major drugstore chain for allegedly breaking the law by refusing to take back recyclable bottles and cans he picked out of the trash.

Joshua Johnson ( inset) — who says he makes about $ 2,600 a month off 5cent empties — says Walgreens and its Duane Reade affiliate cost him so much money by refusing his refuse that he and wife Brenda Gardener had to move into a homeless shelter. “We came up short primarily because Duane Reade wouldn’t take them,” Gardener said. “They would say, ‘ We only do it onMonday, Wednesday, Friday’ or ‘ Our truck isn’t here.’ ”

Johnson, a retired Air Force inventory specialist, and his housecleaner wife, spend six hours a day filling bags with containers scavenged from hotels and diners. They pull in between $ 74 and $ 156 a day. In his suit, Johnson, 49, says employees at two Duane Reades not only refused his cans, they even scuffled with him two times over the past year.

In July, a manager at the Duane Reade at 771 Eighth Ave. “verbally abused Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Gardener,” then “charged” at Johnson and grabbed his cellphone while the collector tried to film the encounter, according to the suit.

The couple couldn’t pay their $ 1,700amonth rent in Hells Kitchen and landed in a shelter last year. They have been collecting cans since 2011.

Johnson is suing for unspecified damages. Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso said, “We decline to comment on pending litigation.”